[VIDEO] ‘The Vehicle Experienced an Anomaly on Ascent’: SpaceX CRS-7 Explodes Moments After Liftoff, Mission Ends In Disaster

Posted: June 28, 2015 | Author: Pundit Planet | Filed under: Breaking News, Science & Technology, Space & Aviation | Tags: Atlantic Ocean, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40, Commercial Resupply Services, Dragon (spacecraft), Falcon 9, Florida, International Space Station, NASA, SpaceX |Leave a comment

The latest Dragon spacecraft cargo run to the International Space Station blasted off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 28th, 2015 and exploded during flight. SpaceX wanted to attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket on a ocean platform. [The last attempt crashed into the platform – see the tracking cam video]

Christian Davenport reports: An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded a couple of minutes after liftoff Sunday morning. It was the third cargo mission to the space station to be lost in recent months.

screen-rocket

SpaceX tweeted: “The vehicle experienced an anomaly on ascent. Team is investigating. Updates to come.”

NASA officials said it was not clear what caused the explosion.

SpaceX was carrying more than 4,000 pounds of food and supplies to the space station, where American Scott Kelly is spending a year in space. There were no astronauts on board.

Watched #Dragon launch from @space_station Sadly failed Space is hard Teams assess below @NASAKennedy #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/myi3col5Ix

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) June 28, 2015

The failure follows two earlier mishaps. An Orbital Antares rocket blew up in October, and then a Russian Progress 59 spun out of control after reaching orbit.

Before the launch, Stephanie Schierholz, a NASA spokeswoman, said that the station had plenty of supplies on board and that the crew would be fine even if there was another failure.

“They supply the station with all these contingencies in mind,” Schierholz said.

A NASA slide from an April presentation said that with current food levels, the space station would reach what NASA calls “reserve level” on July 24 and run out by Sept. 5, according to SpaceNews…(read more)

Washington Post